


Dark Eyes

by Pimsri



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:54:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28750998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pimsri/pseuds/Pimsri
Summary: Javier goes on a journey, to his first bounty mission with Arthur, to realize his feeling for the man, and to confront his own past.
Relationships: Javier Escuella/Arthur Morgan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Dark Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> The writing is told from both Javier and Arthur’s perspective and is divided by mini-chapters, the odd numbered chapters (1,3,5) being Arthur’s perspective and the even numbered chapters (2,4,6) being Javier’s.

**_1._ **

**_"Such dark eyes Javier have. So dark like a pool at night, and so bright they almost glow ember among campfire light. How I would love to swim in his gaze, in those beautiful eyes. Anyway, he killed a man this morning."_ **

Arthur scribbled on his journal pages. Then Javier noticed the trying-to-be-sneaky glances Arthur gave him from behind his journal, across the campfire. Javier smiled, before standing up, picked a drywood they collected earlier, and threw them into the fire before sitting next to Arthur.

He took a drink from his flask, shift himself a bit, before speaking,

"I hope Dutch will not be.  _ Angry.. mad,  _ uhh.." Javier struggled. His English is coming together. Sometimes he just needs time to search for words. Arthur looked at him encouragingly.

"Disappointed in me. For bringing one in dead."

"He won't. Ain't much of a big deal anyway. Besides, we got the money, didn't we? We did great, you and I. Especially you."

Javier didn't say anything. Thinking.

The roof of trees above them rustled and an owl swooped past. Wolves howled, but they were much too far away to have to worry about. A few pairs of glowing eyes in the dark, far from reach of the campfire, possums perhaps. Stars above are bright on summer night.

He felt the younger man shift to his side, facing Arthur. Dark eyes starring, swallowing him whole. 

"You can kiss me, you know."

"Ah…"

  
  


**\------------ 2 days ago ------------**

**_2._ **

Javier often dreamed of the monster. Twisted shape, hollow eyes, nasty looking scars, all skin and bones, and when it opened its maw of sharp teeth, a squeaking, oinking noise of a dozen pigs would come out. He yelled for someone to take him away from the abomination, he called for his mother, feeling so powerless, but the monster held its claws out, yanking him away from his mother's arms, and devoured him whole. 

  
  


"I want to go with Arthur, boss."

Said Javier. Stern and confident, so much so that his 'request' felt more like a statement.

Dutch stared, then he laughed, but his eyes were pleased, amused.

"Why? You have only joined us last winter. There will be many chances to prove yourself."

"I.. happen to hear what you and Arthur said. I know those men. I can help."

Dutch ponders, but Javier knows he's already convinced.

"Eager, aren't you? I planned to send John with him. Are you as good as John? No, don't answer me, I will see for myself. Yes, you may go with Arthur. I will send John on another mission, now, you may go and tell Arthur he'll be going with you."

He received no protest from Arthur. They have been on small missions together before, and he thinks maybe Arthur is eager to get to know him in battle too, to know they can rely on each other. They leave tomorrow morning, and so, after dinner, they went to Arthur’s tent to review their mission one more time. Arthur and Javier helped each other spread the maps and bounty posters onto the table, and for a second, their hands brushed together, and Arthur quickly looked away, but not before Javier noticed a red tint on his face.

He's.. fond of Arthur. More than comrade or brother. Such kind of love, between men, is not so common. Still, he recalls the older village boy he used to crush on, and the dashingly handsome fellow revolutionist with wicked tongue, and the pleasant night in a haystack with the farm overseer's son . He is fond of men, and now he is fond of Arthur, and has been since the moment the older man draped a coat, his own worn coat, onto Javier's trembled body as Tilly clean his wound and Dutch console him in a language he does not understand. Since then, he can't help but wanting to be near the man, spending time with him, and with the help of his new friend, John, he was able to.

And now? Now he knows Arthur is at least a bit fond of him as well.

"Juan Castro and Manolo Diaz" announced Arthur of their targets, and at the sounds of their names, Javier felt his heart tremble and memories flooded him, and he could feel the monster's jaw hovering above his neck. Arthur must have read his face and noticed.

"You knew them?"

Yes, I know them. Javier thought. The two men, both around mid to late 40’s, drawn and printed in ink, stare back at them from on the paper. A nasty looking bastards. Juan Castro, eyebrows thick and bushy, a big brute with long hair, $30 dead or alive. Just a petty former soldier, Javier does not fear him. Manolo Diaz, mustache looking much like Javier's own, skinny with hollow-looking eyes and a big gashing scar on his left cheek with a hefty reward of $80 dead and $100 alive. Javier recognizes this one well indeed.

"Yes, I know them." Said Javier. He pointed his finger to the first poster.

“Juan. He is a drunk. He usually stays awake all night so a night ambush will not work, but I bet he will be hungover in the morning." 

Arthur took notes, and Javier continued, 

“Manolo is dangerous, because he’s just partially crazy,  _ a psychopath _ . Unpredictable. He is small but strong, more powerful than you think. I once saw him.." no, Javier shakes the image from his head, “nevermind, just keep in mind he’s strong, but can be slow and clumsy in a melee. He is fast with his gun, though, but faster on his horse. If he gets up onto his saddle, you will never catch him again.”

“According to the sheriff, they showed up north of Blackwater from Mexico. Strangers to these lands, just like you” Arthur said, as he adjusted the light of his lantern. It is getting dark.

“Aye… but I have no sympathy for them…”

Arthur makes a soft grunt, an understanding that he will not meddle in to this matter if Javier is not ready to talk. They discussed some more, and summarized their mission, the route they’re to take, the approximate time of their return, and their supply, until they decided both of them are ready as can be.Then Javier bid good night, but Arthur, it seems, have other idea.

“Wait” sounded Arthur, packing the last bounty poster into his bag before turning to Javier.

“Stay. we go at dawn, and.. I know it must be hard to sleep with Bill snoring all night.. and well, it’s a pretty big cot I have here so…”

Javier felt the heat rising to his ears, but he smiled to himself, turned around and entered Arthur’s tent. 

  
  


Javier slept well without the monster to him. He woke before Arthur, and realized that somehow during the night, Arthur had snuggled up a bit close to him. Curious, he pretended to be asleep. Arthur was so flustered when he woke up, and it gave Javier some satisfaction indeed.

They headout from their camp, near Hannigan's Stead. Their target will be up by Aurora Basin Pool. Arthur was on his Boadicea, and Javier on the camp's mule he has been borrowing for a few weeks. Supply was enough for a few days of travel.

They rode before the anyone in the camp woke, greeting the sleepy John as they departed. 

  
  
  


\---

**_3._ **

They rode, slow and steady, through the hills and marsh of Hannigan's Stead, and came to a road along the Lower Montana. Although this is just a bounty mission and not a big heist, Arthur found that riding with Javier does good to help calm his mind. The silence of the ride is so good. John will bickers with him, Dutch will talk and talk nonstop, Sean is just outright annoying, and Bill, well, even just by being near Bill and hear him speak makes Arthur feel more stupid. The silence of Javier is good. Tranquil. Just what he needs before a mission.

As they saw the smoke rising from the cabin ahead, they dismounted and tied their mounts behind the bushes. Binoculars in hands, they crept forward, staying low and quiet. They saw the horses tied in front, and the distant sound of the two men arguing, and shadows through the curtains. It seems both Manolo and Juan are here.

So they backed away, deep into the hill away from the cabin, and set up camp behind a thicket of tall pines.

"You good? Gonna keep watch for you if you need to rest first tonight"

Arthur offered. Javier has been calmer after the ride, but he was still a bit restless after they set up camp, always at the far edge of the thicket, looking beyond the hill with his binocular onto the house.

"Sure" Javier said, stepping back from behind the boulder. Arthur reached his hand to help Javier up.

The ground was not steady, however, and as Arthur tried to pull Javier up, his foot slipped on a layers of leaves, and he fell on his butt, dragging down Javier, who fell on top of him.

They both scrambled themselves up, and both mumbled a quick "sorry". Arthur felt awkward as he took Javier's place. He turned to look as Javier leave, and for a moment, his hopeful self thought that Javier was blushing, but, it was probably just the color of the sun's dying ray as it peeked through the pines.

Javier left, and so his shift began.

Javier was right, as soon as the sun went into shadow, Juan and Manolo emerged from the shack, bottles in hands. They started to discuss something, and maps were brought out one after another, but as the night turns darker and darker, they get more and more drunk. Soon, discussion became apparently gibberish, mostly on Juan's part. That was when Javier came to replace Arthur. He looks like he gets very little sleep, and Arthur is concerned.

"I'll be fine, friend. Trust me, I will feel better tomorrow when they both will be rotting behind the bars in Blackwater"

And so Arthur left him to keep watch.

A few hours later, Javier woke him up.

"They went back into the cabin now, drunk. We have to get their horses first"

Quickly and nimbly, they sneaked toward the cabin. According to Javier, the better-looking horse, a young, strong paint, must belong to Manolo. The other one is a big draft cross, Juan's. They must make sure that, should things not go according to plan, the two bounty targets will not have a chance to get away. They unhitch the horses and lead them away. The paint is reluctant, he stomped and neigh loudly, but they managed to hid them away, hitched behind a tree away from the path, and they get in position just in time. A seconds later, the door swung open and Juan stepped out. Javier hid under the front porch's dock, and Arthur in the corner of the house.

Juan seems to not notice the horses missing, he yawned, unzipped his pants and walked toward the wooded area, and, in a drunk unawareness, toward the hiding Arthur, who swiftly grabbed him by his head and knocked him off on a tree trunk. Many enemies have mistaken Arthur's size for a slow, slumbering beast, and were felled by him. Silently, he tied the unconscious Juan up.

\-----

**_4._ **

" _ A bear gotten you or something, Juan?? _ " 

Javier does not recognize that voice anymore, coarsed with age and drawled with drunkenness. Javier is ready, he moved in close, and positioned himself behind the door as it flung open.

Then, it happened fast.

Juan, somehow not unconscious after all, regained his senses, and leaped at Arthur from behind and threw him onto the ground. Manolo pulled out his gun and aimed at Arthur, in his dizziness, he hesitated, given Javier time to jumped him before the trigger was pulled, it knocked his pistol off his hand. It fell and skidded away, slipped under the dock through a hole in the planks. Manolo roared in anger, and turned to face his attacker.

At that moment, Javier froze.

The monster! The monster in the flesh!

He can hear the men scream, he can hear his mother crying as she holds him.

Manolo pulled his knife and Javier shook himself back into reality. The monster charged, its scars flashed by at the corner of Javier's eyes as he dodged. Rage filled Javier, and with it the courage, Javier delivered a punch at the back of Manolo's head, and he staggered away from Javier, his world spinning, before grabbing the wooden rail. He knew his disadvantage, he's drunk, not fit to fight, so he will flee. So he scrambled down the stairs and frantically looked to the hitching post, but his stallion was not there. 

Knife forward and firm stance, Manolo turned to Javier

" _ You think you have a chance against me? You underestimate me, boy. _ "

In front of the cabin, Juan was gaining advantage over Arthur. Both were thrashing each other on the ground. Juan managed to get a few hits at Arthur. At last he got on top of Arthur and tried to strangle him. Arthur tried elbowing him but in vain.

Javier, unafraid, enraged by the desire to save Arthur and encouraged by the threatened look in Manolo's eyes, closed in and dodged Manolo's swift but imprecise knife again and again, and finally took the knife for himself, but as he held it victoriously in his grip, Manolo sweeped his feet and Javier fell on the hard ground, Manolo on him.

Arthur saw it, with the last of his strength, he grabbed a nearby rock and slammed it hard at Juan's head, knocking him totally unconscious, and he got up, he have to go to Javier.

But it was too late.

Faster than lightning, Javier broke free, his knife slashed at Manolo's neck, the blood painted the grass red. Manolo fell back and desperately gasped for air, and as he was freed, Javier leaped onto his body, switching their position. Manolo tried to struggle and crawl away despite Javier's weight on him, but with so much blood gushing from his neck, Javier knew he'd die soon. So he gripped Manolo's shaggy, greasy hair, forced him to look into his eyes, and hissed into his face.

" _ Remember me now, Manolo? Remember that helpless little boy, in a village by the lake? You gripped his head, just as I'm doing, and forced him to watch his uncle fed to pigs. How does it feel being helpless? How does it feel to be powerless?" _

Arthur would not understand a word he said, but he would have known Revenge by the way Manolo looked at Javier, eyes widened in shock and fear, and realization, limbs twitching miserably before he fell still, the darkness of Javier's eyes being the last thing he saw.

Silence.

\-----------------------

**_5._ **

"Javier.."

Arthur's voice seems to bring him back, and the silence dies with Javier's loud exhale. He had been holding his breath. Legs clearly shaking, but finally he stood up, triumphant over his foe. When he turn to Arthur, blood-soaked, and looking so fragile, he spoke,

"L- let us go, Arthur."

Javier took Manolo's horse. A young, handsome grey overo paint, and Arthur tied the unconscious Juan to the back of his Boadicea, while Manolo's body was wrapped in the bedsheet from the cabin and tied to Javier's mule, and off they rode.

The silence of the ride, except this time, it weighed like a heavy cloud as they rode to Blackwater. Arthur felt he needed to say something.

"What did he do, Javier?" Asked Arthur, as they rode out of the wood onto the rolling hills, beyond which Blackwater can be seen.

" _ Things I can't forget nor forgive.  _ He did terrible things when he was a soldier in Mexico. He killed my uncle. He cut him, and fed him to pigs, alive, and he made me watch" 

"Jesus… Are you alright? You were trembling." Javier looked at him, and Arthur noticed that, despite looking so tired and shaken, the madness he had seen in Javier's eyes earlier was gone. Now, they are alive and there are sparks in them once more. It took a while, but Javier finally managed a smile as he said,

"I'm.. a little shaken, but I'm fine. I will be alright now. He was the monster that haunted my dream since that day. You don't know what a relief it is to see him dead on the ground, and knowing he will never be able to hurt me ever again."

  
  


\------------ later that evening ------------

**"A leap of faith, that's what it felt like"**

Arthur remembered, when he was young and learned that John is afraid of water. He took John to a small waterfall and, to show John that there is nothing to fear (or maybe it was just to flex on him), he would jump from a small waterfall and into the pool below.

He remember the feeling right before he leap;

Lean forward, eyes shut, body tense,

as lips met.

Javier's were dry, his hand reached to cup Arthur's face, his palm was feeling the stubbles. Arthur has never kissed a man, he was not prepared for the power in Javier, who leaned into the kiss, hand slipping behind Arthur's head now to stroke his hair. Arthur broke the kiss, too nervous.

“You’re fine, Arthur” whispered Javier, maybe sensing the anxiety in Arthur, and he looked discouraged.

Oh no, did I make Javier feel like he has fucked up? Javier did nothing wrong, and Arthur wanted more, more of that. Now he’s the one who pulled Javier into another kiss, firm and sure this time. Javier relaxed, grabbed one of Arthur’s wrist and guided it to rest at his hip. Their lips were unsure, at first, but soon they found their places. Javier tasted as strong as before, and forceful, almost nipping at Arthur's lip.

Arthur has never kissed a man, but for damn sure he can get used to this.

Their lips parted, and their eyes once again met. Arthur surfaced then, from the waterfall, from the pool of those dark eyes. Javier looked proud, the corner of his mouth curved to one side into an awkward, shy smile of his, as he chuckled, and the sound of it echos to the beat of Arthur’s heart. He can’t help but smiled too.

They sit like that for a while, occasionally sharing a conversation. Javier offers to keep the first watch, then Arthur just before dawn. Late morning when the sun was fully up, they began the ride home.

  
  


Javier's new steed was given a warm welcome by the gang. He was cleaned, brushed, and fed the best they have. One look at him, and they know he is special. Javier can't wait to test him out, maybe with Arthur. The horse has been given a new name, "Boaz".

**"Now, I wonder how many lives ended looking into those eyes I adore."**

Retreated to his tent, writing away in his journal, Arthur pondered.

**"Dutch were not angry with Javier, which was good. He know to be easy on him. I think he was even pleased by his enthusiasm. Yesterday Javier defeated his demon. Javier was amazing.**

**I ain't never kissed a man, but Javier is different. A leap of faith, that's what it felt like. I was afraid I was not good enough for him."**

From his tent, Arthur watched the gang gather around Javier to congratulate him on his first big mission. Laying on the cot he shared with Javier 2 nights ago. The fruity scent of his soap, which he woken up to that morning, is no more.

It's been a day of long rides. It wouldn't hurt to head to sleep a bit early..

He yawned and stretched himself a bit, then lay down, ready for a long sleep, then he heard footsteps at the entrance, and there, parting the canvas that covered his tent, was Javier.

"S- sorry.. I didn't expect you to go to sleep so early.." he backed away. The cot creaked as Arthur got up to sit.

"No, it's alright, I wasn't sleeping yet." Arthur said. Still, the big yawn he let off probably told Javier otherwise.

"I just wanted to say thank you… and sorry, still, that we couldn't turned in Manolo alive"

\--------------

**_6._ **

"Heh.. It's alright" Arthur shifted on his cot, and Javier went to sit beside him.

"It matters more, at least to me, that killing him has given you peace." 

And again, Arthur looked at him, with that sincere eyes, and talked to him in that honest voice. He is full of sympathy,  _ for him _ . For all his life, he knew nothing but the cruelty of the world; the beak of a vultures and the fangs of a coyotes that will crush even the strongest soul like a dry, cracked bones. This gentleness,  _ for him, _ is hard to accept, and it only made him want to run into it, to rush into it, let it pull him in...

Placing one hand on Arthur's knee to balance, he leaned in, slowly, carefully, make sure Arthur is ok with it, and placed a shy and quick kiss on his lips.

"From now on, I will look forward to a restful sleep."

Javier got up and turn to leave. The wind swept at the strand of hair on his face, the smell of food from the campfire nearby and the sound of its crackle, the laughter of the gang that rumbled when John told some stupid jokes. Reminders of how lucky he is to be alive. He smiled slightly. He remembered weeping as he left his home, thinking he would die alone in the desert, or even if he survived he would forever be alone, left to wander without family and friends.

How it all is not what he expected, and how he loves it.

His thought was interrupted by a call from Arthur.

"Actually, wait-"

Javier turned back to meet him. Arthur's face is looking adorably like an apple now. 

"You know, if you still can't have a restful sleep because of Bill's snoring, I wouldn't mind having you sleep here. We can always get another cot.."

Now Javier partly expected this, and how he will love it indeed.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


\----

I worked on this over the past 7 months or so.. left the scene, and left this almost-finished. Here's probably my last contribution to this fandom :)

  
  
  



End file.
